Motorsport started in Zhuhai when it hosted a race on its street circuit in 1993, racing continued until 1996 when the motor racing circuit was constructed and became China’s first permanent motor race track[1] with Formula One in mind.

The circuit is designed by Australian company Kinhill Engineers Pty Ltd, the same group which created the Formula One circuit in Adelaide. The project manager for the project was Michael McDonough.[2]

The first international race held at the circuit was the BPR Global GT Series. The circuit soon became the hotbed of local motorsports with teams from Hong Kong and Macau setting up their bases inside the circuit garages.

The original circuit contained 16 corners. But corners 7, 8 and 9 were eliminated after a track change request from FIM and made into one corner.

The circuit is 4.3 kilometres (2.67 mi) long and has 14 turns. 9 of them are right turns and 5 are left turns and the circuit runs clockwise only. The shorter straight is 500 metres (0.31 mi) long. The longest straight is the start/finish straight which is 900 metres (0.56 mi) long and 14 metres wide at its widest.[1] Alexandre Imperatori, A1 Team Switzerland's rookie driver, suggested that there are lots of overtaking places in the circuit because of the combination of straights, hard braking areas for hairpins, tight corners, followed by and accelerating for long straights.[3] The most successful driver on the circuit is the best one who can manage their brake wear.[4] Zhuhai International Circuit is an FIA Grade II certified circuit.

Zhuhai International Circuit Co Ltd is also a prominent motorsport event organizer and promoter in China. It has organized and promoted the FIA GT Championship in China and in 2007, it has also signed a contract with China Motorcycle Sports Association to promote the inaugural China Superbike Championship.

ZIC was included in the provisional 1999 F1 calendar. But the circuit subsequently lost its place in the calendar after failing to meet the international standards set by the FIA.[5][6] F1 subsequently races in Shanghai International Circuit.

In May 2004, the Endurance World ChampionshipZhuhai 6 Hours race was held at the circuit. This was the first time an international motorcycle race was held at the circuit. [7] The race was won by GMT 94 Racing.[8]

The FIA GT Championship was staged from October 21, 2005 to October 23, 2005 and the GPLK Corvette C5-R won the race. The GruppeM Porsches won GT2. The Hong Kong Le Mans Team and the Malaysian Proton R3 Amprex team also took part.

A1 Team China racing at Zhuhai International Circuit in the 2007 A1GP race at ZIC.

Zhuhai International Circuit staged the fourth round of the 2007-08 A1 Grand Prix season on December 16, 2007. The Sprint race was won by Michael Ammermüller of Team Germany and the Feature race was won by Narain Karthikeyan of Team India. On October 13, 2009, Executive Deputy General Manager of Zhuhai International Circuit, Stewart Tan said he welcome A1 Grand Prix return to the circuit on November 15, 2009.[9] However, the series has more races were cancelled, with an announcement made on 5 November 2009 stating that the races in China and Malaysia was not taking part.[10]

In 2004, the GT Association, the organizer of Super GT, announced on 23 May that an All-Star race in China, scheduled for 4 to 6 October at ZIC.[12] But on 5 August 2004, JGTC announced that the race was cancelled, for reasons related to the Chinese organizer.[13]

A multi year deal was announced in 2006 that brought one of the American racing series to China. On 30 November 2006, Roberto Moreno made history as he took the 2007 DP01 Champ Car on track at the Zhuhai Circuit, marked the first time and also the last time a Champ Car had run in China.[14]

Then the series had problems with its promoter, which settled in a court in the US, and replaced them with a new promoter. The new promoter did not have enough time to organize the race on the original May date and so the race was provisionally moved to October 2007. When the series failed to get F.I.A. approval for the October date the 2007 race was cancelled. The series was looking to race in Zhuhai for the 2008 season until the unification with Indy Racing League but most of the speculation had died down.

On 2 October 2003, Dragon Hill Corporation Ltd, part of LBS Bina Group, exercised its option to buy Lamdeal Investment Ltd, which is involved in managing Zhuhai International Circuit Ltd (ZICL), for US$1. LBS managing director, Datuk Lim Hock San said LBS believed in the potential of the ZIC circuit land, adding the acquisition "has come at an appropriate time. Upon completion of the exercise of the option, Dragon Hill will hold 100% of the entire issued and paid-up share capital of Lamdeal and Lamdeal will own 60% of ZICL," he said. [15]

Since 2005, the circuit has become a hive of track activities, with a large number of auto-related launches and events held at the circuit, as the battle for car sales in China heat up. Auto dealers and manufacturers try to lure more customers by allowing them to drive freely on the track and pampering them off it.

In 2011, Sunny Racing Club was established and have since acquired a reputation for close and competitive racing at low-cost. The club uses a one make Sunnny Kart chassis and 2-stroke 100cc Yamaha engine.